Leather has a 13% share of all the material used in car interiors in China at the moment, but could increase this figure thanks to the growth in sales of premium vehicles there. That’s the view of Sun Zhongwei, director of trims at Yanfeng Automotive Interiors, a speaker at the third Lectra Automotive Leather Conference on April 19.

Mr Sun said automotive companies are encouraged by data for the first quarter of 2017 suggesting that China’s gross domestic product grew by 6.9% year on year. He said current projections are that sales of premium cars in China will grow this year by 5%. Because of this, he said, demand for leather will keep increasing.